2l6 



NATURE 



[December 15, 1910 



tained in comparison with sodium nitrate and sulphate of 

 ammonia. The pot-culture work has included further 

 experiments on the influence of magnesia on plants. The 

 Hills' experiments concerned chiefly the use of zinc in 

 different forms and of lithium. The question of green- 

 manuring with leguminous and non-leguminous crops re- 

 spectively has been advanced a further stage. In the 

 botanical department some forty specimens of infected 

 plants were sent for examination. For the most part 

 these were attacked by common diseases, but the follow- 

 ing are not so generally met with : — silver-leaf on black 

 currant, Pseudomonas on swede, and Hypomyeces on 

 mushrooms. Two diseases, one on mangolds the other on 

 asparagus, are apparently new to science, and are now under 

 investigation. The society has decided to carry out experi- 

 ments with calves at the Woburn Farm, for the purpose 

 of demonstrating that by means of isolation it is possible 

 to rear healthy stock from tuberculous parents. Lord 

 Rothschild has undertaken to provide, free of all expense 

 to the society, thirty calves for the purposes of the pro- 

 posed demonstration. The arrangements are in the hands 

 of a special committee, and Sir John McFadyean has 

 undertaken to supervise the demonstration. With the view 

 of enabling the Royal Veterinary College to make further 

 investigations as to Johne's disease, an obscure disease of 

 sheep met with in certain parts of England, and vaccina- 

 tion as a preventive against tuberculosis in cattle, the 

 council has agreed to make a special grant to the college 

 of 200/. per annum for three years, commencing on 

 January i, 191 1. 



The trustees of the Beit memorial fellowships for 

 medical research have elected the following persons to 

 fellowships. We give in each case the general character 

 of the proposed research and the place where it is in- 

 tended to carry out the research : — T. R. Elliott, patho- 

 logical changes in the suprarenal glands, at the Medical 

 School of University College Hospital. E. E. Aitkin, 

 investigation of a group of toxins with respect to the 

 manner of destruction, mode of neutralisation by anti- 

 body, and effect of the various modifications upon the 

 animal organism, at the Bacteriological Laboratory of the 

 London Hospital. Frances Mary Tozer, the presence of 

 sensory fibres in the third, fourth, and sixth cranial nerves ; 

 their influence upon ocular paralysis in locomotor ataxia 

 and other diseases, and the site of the ganglion cells, at 

 the Physiological Laboratory, Liverpool University. 

 R. W. H. Row, the structure, development, and functions 

 of the pituitary body in Vertebrata, at (i) King's College, 

 London (Zoological Laboratory) ; {2) Marine Biological 

 Association's Laboratory; and (3) Naples Zoological 

 Station (collection of specimens and embryological and 

 experimental work). H. Priestley, study of the diphtheroid 

 organisms with regard to their distribution, morphology, 

 cultural characteristics, pathology, and relationship to 

 diseased conditions of man and animals, at the Lister 

 Institute of Preventive Medicine. F. P. Wilson, the 

 changes in the lipoids of the tissues produced by syphilis 

 and their relation to haemolysis and immunity, at the Bio- 

 chemical Department, University of Liverpool. A. G. 

 Yates, the bacteriology of acute rheumatism, at the 

 Pathological Department of the University of Sheffield. 

 Annie Homer, the chemistry and physiology of tryptophane ; 

 the metabolism and chemistry of haemoglobin in so far as 

 they bear on its production in the animal body ; the com- 

 parison of normal and pathological tissues as regards their 

 contents of intracellular ferments, at the Physiological and 

 Chemical Laboratories, Cambridge. F. J. F. Harrington, 

 investigation of the functions of the male accessory genital 

 glands, at University College Medical School. /. F. 



NO. 2146, VOL. 85] 



Gaskell, the origin of the suprarenal body in the inverte- 

 brates and lower vertebrates, and on the function of the 

 chlorogogen cells in invertebrates, at St. Bartholomew's 

 Hospital Medical School. The next election of fellows will 

 be held in December, 191 1. Correspondence should be 

 addressed to the honorary secretary, Beit Memorial 

 Fellowships for Medical Research, 35 Clarges Street, W. 



In the Philippine Journal of Science (vol. v.. No. 3) 

 Mr. R. B. Bean gives a further account of his investiga- 

 tions into the different types of ears occurring among the 

 Philipinos, giving on this occasion illustrations of the 

 Iberian and the primitive types. In the former, the 

 characteristic features are the inversion of the conch and 

 the rolling out of the helix, this producing a shallow bowl 

 in the conch and a flat helix below. The whole ear is 

 thin, flattened, and usually placed parallel to the head. 

 The primitive ear, on the contrary, is distinguished by 

 the inversion of the conch and the rolling in of the helix, 

 the upper and lower portions of the latter projecting in 

 the form of a shelf, while the conch is deep and bowl- 

 like. The whole ear is thick. In the opinion of the 

 author, ears afford much better race-characters than 

 skulls. 



In the report for the year ending September 20, the 

 committee of the Bristol Museum and Art-gallery expresses 

 its obligation to Lady Smyth for her gift of 1500Z. to 

 fit up a companion room to the one for which she had 

 previously provided funds. This will enable the adjacent 

 rooms to be arranged in uniformity. Among the additions 

 to the collection is the skin of a giraffe from East Africa, 

 which is now in the hands of the taxidermist, and will 

 in due course be installed in the building. 



The new museum and art-gallery opened at Plymouth 

 on October 25 form the subject of an illustrated article 

 in the November number of the Museums Journal. The 

 foundation-stone of a building was laid so long ago as the 

 Diamond Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, but soon after 

 this was done the financial affairs of the city became 

 involved in difficult}", and further progress was stopf>ed. 

 Later on Mr. Andrew Carnegie offered a large sum for 

 the building of a public library, and it was eventually 

 decided to combine with the library a museum and art- 

 gallery, for which funds were provided from other sources. 

 The result is the present fine building, constructed partly 

 of Portland stone and partly of Devonian limestone, with 

 a total frontage of about 320 feet. Of this, the northern 

 180 feet are allotted to the museum and art-gallery. The 

 whole building is one of which Plymouth may justly be 

 proud. 



Amongst publications recently issued .by the Inter- 

 national Council for the Study of the Sea are vol. xii. 

 of the Rapports et Proces-Verbaux, vol. iv. of the Bulletin 

 statistique, and No. 48 of the Publications de Circonstance. 

 The first of these contains useful summaries of the fishery 

 work carried out under the direction of the council. Dr. 

 Hoek gives an account of the recent work on eggs and 

 larvae of the Gadidae, Prof. D'.Arcy Thompson of that on 

 the distribution of the cod and haddock, Dr. Ehrenbaum 

 on the eggs and larvae of flat-fishes and Dr. Masterman 

 on their later stages, and Dr. Hjort reports on the herring 

 investigations. The statistical bulletin contains a sum- 

 mary of all fish landed in the different European countries 

 in 1907. The last of the three publications deals with the 

 plankton researches, and gives a list of all organisms 

 which have been recorded between 1905 and 1908 on the 

 periodic cruises, with an account of the stations at which 

 they were found. This forms a useful summary of the 

 detailed tables published in the bulletins. 



